


worth fighting for

by pendules



Series: worth fighting for [1]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Apologies, Banter, Flirting, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 22:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10796124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pendules/pseuds/pendules
Summary: Even after everything he's been through, slaying the king, reclaiming himself, something has been missing since Dean took the title and left in July. Maybe he can't ever truly be Seth freakin' Rollins without Dean fucking Ambrose.





	worth fighting for

**Author's Note:**

> [That Dean/Seth segment](https://youtu.be/yAmUC4AGbsk) was so damn flirty that I had to write some more flirtiness post-match. What an excellent episode of Raw.

Dean's waiting for him in the locker room when he gets back. And it should be annoying, but he's just standing there, in the corner, uncharacteristically unobtrusive, hands in his pockets, eyes trained downwards.

"You come to interview me after my _devastating_ loss?" Seth asks dryly but it's weaker than he'd intended it.

Dean raises his gaze just to give him a quick once-over. "Nah, just wanted to see you were okay. That uranage looked nasty."

And it was, but they both know it's not just that. It's Miz working his knee and that pretty awful bump from the top rope and everything he went through with Joe the night before. He knows when he wakes up in the morning, he's going to have aches in places he didn't know existed. But that's — that's this life. That's familiar. Even comforting. _This_ , though, this in front of him — this _isn't_. He isn't sure what to do with it — with Dean. Here and real and not wanting to beat the shit out of him but not letting him forget everything he fucked up with them either. It's all a bit confusing and overwhelming.

"I'll be fine," Seth tells him, brushing off any concern quickly. "Surprised _you_ weren't out there, though."

Dean shakes his head. "Didn't want to get in the way of it, you know."

Seth raises an eyebrow. "Really? _You_?"

"Hey, I can be low-key sometimes," Dean says defensively. "And it was a great match. It felt good seeing you guys nearly kill yourselves over my title."

"Wasn't quite enough, though," Seth says, with a defeated shrug.

"I _really_ thought you had it there," Dean says honestly. "You were kicking serious ass, man." He sounds genuinely impressed.

Seth _knows_ he almost had it. He'd felt like himself again. He'd felt _good_. He wants to keep reaching for that feeling over and over again: pushing himself to and over the limit to feel alive and real and authentic; to feel that rush that only comes from knowing you gave it every single thing you had, that win or lose, you were your absolute best, truest self. You put it all out there. No bullshit. No cut-corners. No easy way outs.

Seth sighs. "So did I."

"I'm actually kind of disappointed," Dean says, almost like he didn't mean to verbalise it.

"What, that you don't get to kick the crap out of me?" Seth says, only half-joking.

"No — I mean, _yeah_. But I — I missed _this_ , you know."

Seth just stares at him, caught off-guard. They've known each other for years, been though practically everything you possibly can with another person, been on the same side and opposite sides of wars, and yet no one can surprise him like Dean still can. "Missed what? Making my life miserable?" he asks tentatively.

"No. Just — this. Riling you up. Making you smile. Even if you don't want to."

Seth lets himself laugh then. But he feels the same way, somehow. Even after everything he's been through, slaying the king, reclaiming himself, something has been missing since Dean took the title and left in July. Maybe he can't ever truly be Seth freakin' Rollins without Dean fucking Ambrose.

"I'm glad you're back, you know," Seth tells him, almost shyly, fully expecting to get shit for it.

"Yeah? Because you and _Balor_ seem pretty chummy," Dean teases, but there's a hint of bitterness there too. He can't deny it gives him some satisfaction.

"We just have some common ground now. That's it," Seth says curtly.

"You sure? Because his abs are, like, unnatural, dude. Have you _seen_ them —"

Seth shakes his head, smiling. "Nah, I'm not into _Finn Balor's_ abs," he says firmly, looking Dean straight in the eyes.

"What _is_ Seth Rollins into, then?" Dean says, back to his stupid interviewer-voice, but there's an edge of a dare to his words now.

"I think _Seth Rollins_ is pretty much into Dean Ambrose's _everything_ ," Seth confesses, looking him up and down before meeting his eyes again, as open and vulnerable as he can be.

He hears Dean exhale heavily. "And is that _all_ Seth Rollins wants to say to Dean Ambrose?"

"No. Seth Rollins _also_ wants to say that he's sorry. And that he hopes he and Dean Ambrose can be okay again. Someday. Even if Dean can't ever forget."

It had cut to the bone, Dean's blunt but casual reminder of what he'd done to him, but he'd deserved it. There's still penance left to be paid, in whatever ways it has to be. There's still a space between the man he is and the one he wants to be. 

Looking at Dean, at the way he swallows hard, absorbing, before nodding just the slightest, almost making a silent agreement, he thinks he's at least on the right path. Because Dean's here, in front of him, and that means there's hope. Brick by brick, day by day, he'll work his way up to it. To Dean's forgiveness. It's the only real thing that matters to him now. And if he's learnt anything in the last couple months, in the last couple _years_ , it's that the hard things are really the only ones worth fighting for.


End file.
